YEAR IN REVIEW 2020

‘20 YEAR IN REVIEW

LETTER FROM OUR CEO & BOARD CHAIR TO OUR SHAREWELL COMMUNITY What a year it has been.

It was just more than a year ago that we were opening the doors of the Cayton Children’s Museum, welcoming our first visitors at a new home with a new name. Our team was growing, tripling in size from our days at the Zimmer. We were getting to know our first generation of campers at Camp Cayton, rolling out a full schedule of art classes and bringing the Derfner Theatre to life with performances and story time. We were navigating the growing pains that come with your first year of operation, learning how to become the best version of ourselves.

And then COVID happened.

When we first closed our doors in March, we were—like you—in disbelief that the world was shutting down. We acted quickly, making difficult but critical decisions focused on the long-term future of ShareWell. We struggled, we experimented, we took risks, we made mistakes and through these months of striving forward—we are finding that we are much bigger than a physical space.

Now nine-plus months into the pandemic, we have introduced bi-weekly outdoor programming called “Cayton Creators,” which is offered at no cost to eliminate barriers to participation. We have partnered with public libraries and nonprofits to distribute Cayton Creativity Kits to families that have been impacted by this pandemic the most. Our virtual programming has come to life through puppet shows, art classes, storytelling, reflection, multicultural celebrations and more. Our virtual field trips are being offered to Pre-K through elementary schools.

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For older youth, youTHink, our youth development initiative that brings the arts into schools and underserved communities, has adapted its curriculum to the virtual space almost overnight.

Students are working alongside accomplished filmmakers and producing their own short films around social issues they care about in youTHink’s Filmmaking Fellowship. They are discovering how creative expression can be a platform to advocate for change in their neighborhoods as part of our Student Ambassador program. All of this happening via video conferencing.

There is no doubt that the ways in which we work have changed significantly. But it hasn’t changed what we do and who we are.

Charles de Gaulle once said “Character is the virtue of hard times.” Though it’s easy to reminisce about the path we were on before COVID, it has allowed us—forced us even—to evolve into a better institution. One that looks at each day as an opportunity to grow. One that looks at change as not something to fear, but to embrace in hopes of finding new ways to bring our mission to life.

One that is committed to helping teach children and youth that we have a responsibility for one another, especially in these times.

That is ShareWell. That is who we have always been, and who we will continue to be on the other side of this crisis. And we look forward to being there for this community, to spark connection and provide healing, when it needs us most.

With gratitude and respect,

ESTHER NETTER CEO & FOUNDER

ANDY KAPLAN CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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REIMAGINING PLAY: CAYTON CHILDREN’S MUSEUM BY SHAREWELL THEY SAY THAT WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS.

2020: A YEAR IN REFLECTION In everything we do, ShareWell is guided by a universal mission: to nurture children and youth to grow to be responsible members of community with the ability to positively shape the world.

Whether through our museum or in the community, this central theme is the impetus for how we envision all programming, operations and initiatives.

And so it did. On February 17, 2019—after more than 20 years of serving children and families on Museum Row—the Zimmer Children’s Museum welcomed visitors into its crowded space for the last time. The Zimmer had brought the Los Angeles community much joy and purpose in its lifetime. But by 2018, it was also attracting upwards of 90,000 visitors a year and our 10,000 square-foot space in the basement of the Jewish Federation Building could no longer accommodate it. It was time to shut one door and open another—one that was full of possibility.

In 2019, we took our vision on a new trajectory, closing one chapter—the Zimmer Children’s Museum—and opening another: the 21,000 squarefoot Cayton Children’s Museum in Santa Monica.

We also took a pause to reflect on the past 30 years of youTHink—our long-running school outreach initiative—and begin to lay the groundwork for institutional changes that would determine future efforts. Then as 2020 brought us a pandemic, we evolved once again, recalibrating how we program and operate to serve a world that suddenly looked very different.

A lot has happened at ShareWell—and in the world—over the past year and change. But we are a stronger institution for it.

From firsts and big milestones to setbacks and triumphs, read on to follow ShareWell’s journey from 2019 to the present.

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Less than six months later, on June 30, 2019, the new and reimagined Cayton Children’s Museum opened in the heart of Downtown Santa Monica.

Named with support from Andrea and Barry Cayton and The Goldrich Family Foundation, the “Cayton,” as many have affectionately coined it, offers 21,000 square feet of discovery based exhibits, a state-of-the-art theatre, two art studios, a public art gallery, curated mural walls, multipurpose rooms for classes, workshops and celebrations, and a year-long calendar of arts and cultural happenings. Its debut also came with an inspiring message: that play has the power to transform lives and our world.

The new space afforded us something that the Zimmer no longer could: the ability to bring our mission to more children, youth and families on a new, much bigger stage. Our location on the rooftop of one of the city’s most prominent retail and hospitality destinations gave us the visibility 5

ARTS & CULTURAL PROGRAMMING At ShareWell, we know that there is no better tool to teach children than play.

Among many important skills that children gain through play, it’s also how they learn about the world around them and how to engage in it—even if they don’t know it. This is the framework that guides our team of early childhood educators, teaching artists and facilitators in developing all programming at the Cayton.

Tapping into many mediums—from performing and visual arts to literature and music—our goal is to give children creative tools, imaginative outlets and a diverse, colorful community of people that will allow them to actively participate in their own personal growth, while discovering the shared responsibility we have to one another.

DAILY PROGRAMMING Apart from the 25-plus interactive exhibits, the spirit of the Cayton is brought to life through daily performance and visual art, theatre, music and movement and storytelling that is free to all visitors with admission. In our first months welcoming visitors, we hosted sensory experiences such as messy art and bubble play, as well as make-and-take art projects that explored undersea landscapes and more in our art studios and multipurpose rooms. In our Derfner Theater, visitors enjoyed storytime, sing-a-longs and live performance, such as the all-female Brazilian drum/dance ensemble, Bloco Obino. Daily arts programming is offered every day the museum is open, 360 days of the year.

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CAMP CAYTON Our inaugural session of Camp Cayton kicked off just as the museum was opening its doors with 10 weeks of museum play and arts-based programming designed to encourage children ages 3 to 8 to take risks, express themselves creatively, engage with their community and discover their purpose.

Each week, campers took part in imaginative themes like World Wonders, Inspired by Nature, Global Music, the Cayton Olympics and our most popular—Intergalactic Expedition. In its first summer, Camp Cayton enrolled over 250 participants with winter session reaching near-capacity. More than 60-percent of participants were new to Camp, having never attended one at the Zimmer before.

CAYTON CLASSES For our littlest of visitors, the Cayton offers 14 classes across a variety of curricula, includingart, music & movement, cross-cultural exchange, school readiness and foreign language. Classes are designed to nurture motor and language skills, stimulate visual learning and create self-awareness. In our first six months, we enrolled 92 registrants and their “bigs” in our classes, each offered over three to five weeks. 2019-2020 class offerings included Preschool Prep, Movers & Maestros, Toddler Town in English and in Spanish, Messy Masterpieces, Yoga Explorers and our most popular, Art Crawl—which encourages “littles” to use anything in the room as their canvas.

FIELD TRIPS Throughout the school year, the Cayton hosts field trips that combine museum free play with art-making and values-based learning, enabling children to apply what they are learning in the classroom in the real world. In October 2019, we held our first field trips, offering a morning and afternoon slot three days a week. The morning options quickly reached capacity for the entire semester, prompting us to introduce a fourth weekday morning slot. From its opening to the pandemic shutdown, the Cayton hosted 891 students on field trips from 30 partner schools with January and February 2020 welcoming 220 students each month—our biggest participation to date.

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CAYTON CULTURAL FESTIVALS At the Cayton, we look at all programming through the lens of how it embodies ShareWell’s mission to inspire children, youth and families to work together toward justice and expanded possibility—not just in our own communities, but also in those that look different from ours. The Cayton Cultural Festival series is one such effort to immerse visitors in their own cultures and those of people from other neighborhoods and backgrounds to create a safe space for inclusivity and increase our understanding of worlds different from our own—creating a village for all.

2019 In October 2019, we kicked off the series with an all-day celebration of Dia de los Muertos, exploring the origins, traditions and rituals of this celebrated Mexican holiday. Our first festival welcomed hundreds of visitors for a traditional folk music and dance performance by Conjunto Tenocelomeh, and activities where visitors got to create their own ofrendas, or altars, to honor loved ones, and make traditional sugar skulls with Mexican-American artist Daniel González.

In December, we celebrated Hanukkah in Santa Monikkah, a day-long festival that explored the themes and values of the “Festival of Lights.”

Through communal art making, musical percussionists and storytelling, visitors explored some of the universal themes of Hanukkah such as searching for light in the darkness and embracing our uniqueness. With funding from Diane & Guilford Glazer Philanthropies, we were able to offer half-price admission all day long.

2020 In January 2020, we partnered with Santa Monica Place to pay homage to Lunar New Year with in-museum art activities and authentic cultural performances such as the traditional Chinese lion dance, Korean fan dance, stilt-walkers, traditional dough artist and New Year’s Wishing Trees. The festival coincided with Museum Free-for-All Day, a partnership established with SoCal Museums to offer free admission all day to increase access to the arts.

Then on March 7, just before the museum’s closure due to COVID, we honored the ancient Hindu “Festival of Colours” with an all-day celebration of Holi with traditional Bollywood dance, all-day color play sharing of cultural stories.

Across our first four festivals, we welcomed over 8,000 visitors with Lunar New Year being our highest attendance to date at 2,280. For each festival, we partnered with local nonprofits, community-based organizations and cultural groups to provide anywhere from 75 to 500 complimentary tickets to mitigate barriers to entry and promote inclusivity.

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COMMUNITY ACCESS INITIATIVE AT SHAREWELL, WE BELIEVE THAT EACH OF US HAS THE ABILITY, BOTH INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY, TO BETTER THE WORLD FOR SOMEONE ELSE. Through immersive play, experiential learning and creative expression, we strive to nurture our shared responsibility for one another in children and youth to advocate for a world built on equity, inclusivity and accessibility. But to teach children about accountability and equity, we must include all children in the formula—only then can we create a space for connection and empathy that allows us to better understand one another to ignite real, lasting change.

This idealogy is built into the heart and soul of ShareWell and materialized at the Cayton Children’s Museum. We look not only for opportunities where we can limit barriers to entry within museum walls, but also beyond them to reach neighborhoods that lack meaningful opportunities for arts enrichment.

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FREE ACCESS INITIATIVE

FIELD TRIPS

We want all children to have access to the wonder of the Cayton—regardless of their ability to pay. In 2019, the Cayton carried on the tradition of the Zimmer to launch its Free Access Initiative, which provides free admission to children and families on public benefits assistance, up to six guests at a time. There is no cap on the number of visits so it is treated much like an annual membership. In our first eight months of operation alone, we waived admission for 7,700 children and families through this Initiative thanks to the generous support of our corporate sponsor, Entertainment One (eOne).

Throughout the year, eOne brought friends from their celebrated family-friendly brands, including Peppa Pig and PJ Masks, for meet-and-greets and performances at the Cayton, including for Museum Free-for-All Day on January 25.

Children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods face many challenges that limit their educational success. Extra-curriculars like field trips help to expand their minds, expose them to new places and ideas and provide community support. This is why the Cayton reserves 50% of all field trip slots for Title 1 schools, low-income charter schools and Head Start programs. From our opening until the shutdown, we subsidized field trips for 17 Title 1 schools, or 585 students, 65% of total participants.

ARTS EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIPS The costs of a week of Camp Cayton and a five week session of Cayton Classes are cost prohibitive for many families. So we strive to limit this barrier so that more children in low- income households have access to high-quality experiential and educational programming that is vital to their development and future growth.

We promote scholarship opportunities through Early Head Start and Head Start programs and Title 1 schools across greater Los Angeles. With support from our funders, we were able to offer 28 camp and 15 class scholarships in 20192020, or 11% and 16% of total class enrollment, respectively.

CHILDREN WITH “DIVERSE ABILITIES” When the shutdown was initiated, research, training and planning was already well underway to integrate changes and upgrades across the museum to better serve the unique needs of children and families with diverse abilities.

In February, a majority of our staff—both at an administrative and executive level—participated in the first of a number of trainings with Rosie’s Foundation, an organization that strives to increase our understanding of and expand opportunities for people with diverse abilities.

Apart from staff training, we have plans to introduce a “Sensory Sensitive” toolkit that parents of children with diverse abilities can check out for their visit. This kit would include items such as sunglasses, weighted vests and noise-canceling headphones to help create a more comfortable experience for children sensitive to new environments. When the museum reopens, we will continue this training and begin to implement a program template that is not only welcoming to children with diverse abilities and their families, but also gives us an opportunity to actively market the space to nonprofits and community groups that serve children that are differently abled.

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PLAY IS SERIOUS BUSINESS Children’s museums are particularly important in an era where standardized education has reduced or eliminated play in the school curriculum. A 2018 clinical report by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that play optimizes a child’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical competencies while being fundamental to the building of 21st century skills, such as problem solving, collaboration and creativity.

THE POWER OF PLAY 12

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YEAR IN REVIEW

WE DOUBLED IN SIZE FROM OUR 10,000 SQUARE-FOOT SPACE

OUR FIRST YEAR AS THE CAYTON CHILDREN’S MUSEUM WAS ONE OF MANY MILESTONES. LET’S TAKE A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM SUMMER 2019 TO THE SHUTDOWN IN SPRING 2020.

AT THE ZIMMER TO

21,000 SQUARE FEET AT THE CAYTON

FIELD TRIP ADMISSION WAS SUBSIDIZED OR WAIVED FOR

595 STUDENTS FROM 17 TITLE 1 SCHOOLS

2,280 VISITORS ON JANUARY 25, 2020

891 STUDENTS

— OUR HIGHEST

WENT ON FIELD TRIPS

2,700

FROM 30 SCHOOLS

AT THE CAYTON 8,000+ VISITOR

ATTENDANCE TO DATE

ANNUAL MEMBERS IN YEAR ONE

MILITARY FAMILIES & FIRT RESPONDERS

VISITED THE CAYTON

132,845

& MILESTONES CELEBRATED AT THE CAYTON

8 MONTHS

ON PUBLIC BENEFITS

VISITORS IN OUR FIRST OF OPERATION, PUTTING US ON THE TRAJECTORY TO REACH 200,000 VISITORS IN YEAR ONE

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125 BIRTHDAYS

7,700 FAMILIES

ASSISTANCE THAT RECEIVED

FREE ADMISSION THANKS TO CORPORATE SUPPORT FROM

ENTERTAINMENT ONE (eOne) 15

RETHINKING YOUTHINK

BEYOND MUSEUM WALLS: YOUTHINK

BY SHAREWELL

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very age offers an opportunity to learn and grow. As babies and young children, we learn through play. Then as we age into our youth, we learn that we have opinions, perspectives and ideas that can impact the world around us. It’s in our adolescent years that we not only see the ability we have to influence others, but we start to seek outlets to do so— especially when not speaking up for the things we believe in limits our potential or prevents others from reaching theirs’.

youTHink started as a museum outreach program, but it has no doubt come into its own over the past 30 years.

By 2018, the program was serving 40 Title 1 schools through in-school residencies, neighborhood and after-school programs, a yearlong student ambassadorship, youth camps, and workshops focused on civic engagement and college readiness. We were reaching more students than ever, but there was a tear forming that would soon be on the verge of ripping if we didn’t take the time to address: enrollment and completion rates we’re seeing a slight decline.

We knew that some of the attrition in recent years was a result of external factors we could not control, including a teacher strike across Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and increased gang violence in a number of youTHink districts that impacted after-school activities.

Still, with the Cayton Children’s Museum wrapping up completion, we decided it was time to home in on youTHink.

THIS IS THE WORK OF YOUTHINK BY SHAREWELL. Founded in 1992, youTHink was conceptualized shortly after the opening of the original Zimmer Children’s Museum to reach youth beyond museum walls. The program empowers youth— primarily those in under-resourced parts of Los Angeles—to look at the arts as a catalyst, a social currency, for activism and meaningful change.

Today, after more than 30 years of operation, youTHink has become a safety net, a trusted space and a door to possibility for thousands of youth in Los Angeles that face generational barriers to success.

And like the former Zimmer, the program is going through its own evolution to ensure it is still achieving what it set out to do more than three decades ago.

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A partial evaluation signaled that youTHink was trying to do too much for too many, creating disjoint, diluting the experience and sense of community, and making program oversight difficult to manage. We needed to get back to the program’s founding principles and rethink our approach to meet students where they were at.

In the 2019-20 academic year, we started to test some strategies that arose from our very early findings. We focused on creating a structured curricula that was adaptable and replicable to achieve the same goals across different disciplines while simultaneously creating brand consistency, so youth knew what to expect from the program. We also sought skilled facilitators and teaching artists to make sure instruction was immersive, engaging and would resonate with students. To start, we put some of the more recent youTHink activities on hold and turned our focus to two of our longest-running youTHink programs: our Student Ambassador program and our Filmmaking Fellowship (formerly called “Filmmaking for Social Change”)

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STUDENT AMBASSADOR PROGRAM THE VETERAN INITIATIVE AND MOST INTENSIVE OF YOUTHINK’S OFFERINGS, THE STUDENT AMBASSADOR PROGRAM WAS BORN IN THE LATE-90S OUT OF STUDENTS’ GROWING DESIRE TO PLAY A MORE ACTIVE ROLE IN CHOOSING THE ISSUES AND COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS THAT THEY ADVOCATED FOR AS PARTICIPANTS IN YOUTHINK’S AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS. The Student Ambassador program—originally called youTHink Leadership Corps—historically took place off-campus outside of school hours to engage youth looking for meaningful extra-curricular activities and opportunities to stand out in college applications. Because the program is purely elective, limiting barriers to entry was critical to enrollment and continued participation.

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2019-20 SCHOOL YEAR For the 2019-20 school year, youTHink recruited 40 students from East and South Los Angeles—both communities of increased focus—for an immersive 9-month-long youth development program that combined the arts and social justice. Guided by some of our recent findings, we prioritized the following in our new approach: look at how the arts can help students reach their own personal and professional goals, build in networking and mentorship opportunities, and create a safe and welcoming space for self-expression that is easily accessible for all participants.

Following a weekend-long sleepaway retreat at Camp Bob Waldorf in Glendale, Ambassadors met each week at the East LA Renaissance Academy within the Esteban Torres High School complex.

In an effort to create more structure, the curriculum was broken up into four modules—Storytelling, Photography, Urban Planning and Theatre—to give students the opportunity to explore a social justice issue one artistic discipline at a time. Each module consisted of about seven sessions and concluded with a culmination event that acted as a final project. Modules were designed sequentially to feed into the next, so students could build upon and apply what they learned. Another big shift from previous years included partnering with different facilitators for each module based on their expertise, rather than the old program model of working with one facilitator for the entire semester. Students also went on “field trips” to see how what they were learning could be applied in the real world while meeting potential mentors. Among them, Ambassadors visited Self Help Graphics—a printmaker in the Boyle Heights community that has ignited activism for the past 50 years—and LA Plaza de Artes y Cultura—a cultural organization on the historic Olvera Street that showcases the important contributions of Chicano and Latinx people in shaping Los Angeles.

When schools closed in spring 2020, the Student Ambassador program had just completed its second module out of four.

Out of the 40 students enrolled, 35 were still actively participating and on their way to completing the program.

Additionally, facilitators and youTHink staff acknowledged the transformation they saw in students. Shirley Ramirez, youTHink’s program coordinator reported a “significant difference in the students from when they first began the storytelling session to their final presentation.

They were confident enough to look at their peers and talk about deeply personal issues like body dysmorphia, drug use and injustice in their everyday lives.”

While school closures and the impact of COVID ultimately cut the program short, there were still some important takeaways for future planning.

For one, there was high demand for opportunities that connected participants to community resources they might not have had access to without youTHink, like the field trips. Students and facilitators alike also reported that the program felt more structured and expectations were clearer—two areas that were creating more disjoint in recent years.

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FILMMAKING FELLOWSHIP NOWHERE COULD THE FINDINGS FROM OUR PRELIMINARY EVALUATION BE MORE EVIDENT THAN IN YOUTHINK’S FILMMAKING INITIATIVE. Formerly titled “Filmmaking for Social Change,” the initiative used to be part of our youTHink Neighborhood Programs, a catch-all for initiatives that convened in public and community spaces outside of the classroom environment and school hours.

In 2018, we began to see participation fluctuating. Student and facilitator feedback clearly showed that as we added more program offerings, it took a toll on staff capacity creating less day-to-day oversight of the program. As such, facilitators were given more liberties in structuring the lesson plan and staff lacked the bandwidth to “course correct” when engagement began to slip. But because interest in the subject remained high, we knew we had to make it easier and more compelling for students to participate.

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o start, we planned on making a few changes. First, we moved the curriculum from a Neighborhood Program to an inclassroom artist residency. Our in-classroom residencies are designed to partner with a teacher to offer the curriculum in place of the usual lesson plan for an entire semester, therefore completion is tied to a final grade.

With our attention on creating consistency, we partnered with a journalism class to maintain alignment with course work and professionalized the format and lesson plan with guidance from the teacher and filmmaker facilitator. The end product was rebranded as youTHink’s new “Filmmaking Fellowship”—a 12week course broken up into three modules, each teaching students about different yet integral stages of the filmmaking process. As they learn new skills, the class also encourages students to explore their self-identities, tap into their own stories—both those that have the ability to limit and empower us—and see how the camera can be a catalyst for positive change. At the end of the 12 weeks, students have the opportunity to share their final film with friends, fellow students and their communities via a short film festival.

When COVID hit, our Filmmaking Fellowship was just two weeks into instruction at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights. But perhaps because the program was still in the early stages, we were able to quickly adapt and move to virtual instruction, thanks largely in part to our facilitator and accredited filmmaker, Elizabeth Gray Bayne, and the nimbleness of journalism teacher, Ms. Brenda Casanova.

Though we lost two weeks in the transition to virtual, students spent eight weeks learning how filmmaking can be a compelling medium to effect positive change within their communities.

The course took place weekly via Zoom, and classroom time was followed by one-to-one Zoom time with Bayne, where she offered critique and guidance.

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On May 27, students showcased their final films—each focused on documenting how the pandemic had impacted their lives or neighborhoods—as part of a film festival that culminated on Zoom. Students extended invites to friends and family while ShareWell invited key stakeholders, donors and funders to participate in a virtual filmmaker Q&A.

Despite the unprecedented challenges of COVID, more than 70% of students completed the class for a final grade.

Apart from piloting some new program strategies, the transition to virtual allowed us to explore alternative and more cost-effective methods for program delivery, which will inform future planning. For instance, the students’ final project, the film festival, is traditionally held at a local theater or community center. When hosted virtually, the film festival saw record attendance, telling us that removing barriers to attendance even post-pandemic—such as work obligations and rush-hour traffic—will make it less prohibitive for family and friends to support students in presenting their final work.

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When I think of the Student Ambassador program, I think of community. Coming into he program, we immediately began building a foundation of trust and respect. Every time I made comments, built on others’ opinions or just shared my ideas with the group, I felt supported.

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-Laylaa, Junior at Culver City High School

I think having a unique space where you can really voice your story is empowering. To have that [experience] at such a young age was almost healing for me.

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-Andrea, Junior at Woodrow Wilson Law Magnet

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youTHink trains us to be the leaders of tomorrow by helping us understand the issues and how to resolve them. I feel like I have the ability now to go out into the real world and make change.

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Briza, Senior at Alliance Piera Barbaglia Shaheen Health Services Academy

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THE GLOBAL SHUTDOWN: SHAREWELL RESPONDS TO COVID-19 WHEN WE WERE FORCED TO CLOSE OUR DOORS IN MARCH 2020, SHAREWELL, MUCH LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD, WAS MET WITH CULTURE SHOCK.

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vernight and without notice, all of our sources for earned revenue—which made up half of our operating budget—were cut off entirely. We acted quickly, furloughing and laying off staff and cutting expenses by 60%— all for the long-term preservation of the institution.

Our now much smaller team took on additional responsibilities that were once foreign to them, forcing everyone to learn new skills; we spent countless hours in Zoom meetings with other industry leaders to see how they were responding; we sought guidance from our Board of Directors almost daily; we brainstormed program alternatives that met our health and safety standards and fit within public health guidelines; and we fumbled, recovered and tried again—all the while finding our way.

97% OF PARTICIPANTS SAID THE CAYTON CREATORS PROGRAM

AND ACTIVITIES WERE ENGAGING NOT JUST FOR THEIR CHILDREN,

BUT AS A FAMILY

Despite the uncertainty and setbacks, the pandemic has forced us to be nimble and look at how we can improve everything from our operations and systems, to programming and community access efforts. Since our museum closure, we have made tremendous progress toward our goals, including developing a three-year strategic plan; defining our vision and mission statements for future planning; building a crisis response plan; launching virtual museum content and weekly outdoor arts experiences freeof-charge across the Los Angeles community; assembling and distributing Cayton Creativity Kits to inspire creativity and healing in underserved neighborhoods; repurposing our field trips virtually; and re-envisioning youTHink for virtual delivery and instruction.

As you will see, though our doors remain closed for the foreseeable future, ShareWell’s mission is still very much alive in this time. Here is a glimpse into what we have been doing to inspire creativity, connection and healing as children, youth and families navigate a new normal.

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VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING

CAYTON AT HOME

VIRTUAL FIELD TRIPS

When we could no longer welcome visitors through our doors, we knew we would have to go to them—albeit virtually. So, we created CAYTON @ HOME—a virtual program series that builds on the museum’s approach to values-based learning with fun, educational and interactive content. Curated by our team of teaching artists, early childhood educators and museum ambassadors, Cayton @ Home takes viewers on an imaginative journey with music, dance and movement, story time, art making, self-reflection and more—all available on Youtube.

As schools moved to remote learning for Fall 2020, we were challenged with re-thinking what a field trip to the Cayton could look like without an open museum. Our virtual field trips are aligned with California Common Core standards and invite classrooms from pre-K through third grade to choose from several themes tailored to different age groups, including: My Community Map, What’s Your Power?, Mindful Art and Puzzle Me This. Each field trip includes a pre-recorded introduction video and a 30-minute program facilitated live by one of our teaching artists to create an interactive experience that encourages individual participation. Teachers leave with a learning guide that offers prompts for engaging students in conversation around themes to enhance classroom learning beyond the field trip.

Since its launch in April 2020, we have produced more than 113 episodes of Cayton at Home...

...and launched numerous series, including “Artmaking with Teonna” and a new virtual puppet show called “Animal APT,” which follows the adventures of Tabs the Cat, Chizzle the Rat and more animal apartment dwellers as they put core values such as integrity, kindness and empathy into practice. With very little Youtube presence pre-COVID, the program has since garnered more than 8,300 viewers on Youtube with 315 subscribers daily.

As the virtual space becomes a way of the future, we have started working with early childhood educators and experts in the field to adapt programming for babies and toddlers, ages 2 to 8, to the virtual space. Efforts will focus on how we activate the virtual space to align with the building blocks of childhood development, from cognitive to socio-emotional to behavioral growth. The program framework will be informed by documented research from CASEL— Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotion-

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In Fall 2020, we offered virtual field trips three days a week. Enrollment was priced at $3 per student and included a “make and take” art activity. With growing concern that distance learning was increasing disparities for children in low-income schools, we pledged to waive fees entirely for Title 1 schools and reserve at least 50% of field trip spots for these classes. Our museum team also did special outreach to teachers at Title 1 schools to promote participation.

As a result, we hosted virtual field trips for 345 first and second grade students in the first half of the academic year with 100% enrolled at Title 1 schools.

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COMMUNITY PROGRAMMING

CAYTON CREATORS OUTDOOR PROGRAMMING As the uncertainty surrounding the museum’s reopening turned to certainty that the museum would be closed for the foreseeable future, we began to explore how we could repurpose museum programming to meet our changing circumstances. As more research pointed to the outdoors as a safer place to gather, we began mapping out a way to safely and responsibly take the Cayton on the road. Soon, CAYTON CREATORS was born—an outdoor experience that moves beyond museum walls to ignite creativity, create connection and provide healing and hope for children and families during this pandemic.

The program was met with high demand, “ selling out” online a month ahead of time.

In just its first three months, Cayton Creators welcomed more than 1,500 participants across 48 sessions.

Cayton Creators made its outdoor debut in August 2020 on the third level of Santa Monica Place in front of the museum. The hour-long program is curated for “littles” ages 3 to 8 and facilitated live to support social-emotional development and provide a constructive outlet for children to make sense of what is going on around them. The program is offered twice per day every Wednesday and Saturday for a total of four weekly sessions. Designed with the health and safety of our community at its core, programming closely adheres to public health guidelines, including dedicated stations that can accommodate up to 10 members of a household or quarantined group at a time with six feet distance between stations, strict social distancing protocols and mask wearing requirements. With the generous support of our annual funders, we have been able to offer the program free-ofcharge to the community with pre-registration.

This has given us the ability to control capacity, capping attendance at a maximum of 40 people per session. Each child is provided with their own art kit to participate in the activity, which they get to take home in an effort to limit exposure.

In December, the program was temporarily put on hold to support stay-at-home restrictions and help curb a rise in COVID cases. In the meantime, Cayton Creators has moved online, offering a live facilitated program every week.

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COMMUNITY PROGRAMMING

100% OF FAMILIES SAID THAT HEALTH AND SAFETY MEASURES

MADE THEM FEEL SAFE

“

Thank you for taking a chance and trying something new.

As a parent, these past few months have been difficult keeping a young mind entertained within small quarters. Your outdoor program has been engaging and something to look forward to, all while feeling incredibly safe.

“

-Participant, CAYTON CREATORS

CAYTON CREATIVITY KITS The intention behind Cayton Creators was always much bigger than programming at Santa Monica Place. As we saw how remote learning and a disconnection from society was only creating more limitations for children and youth in low-income neighborhoods, we began collaborating with community-based organizations, nonprofits and municipal agencies to explore ways that we could bring the transformational power of play and creativity into parts of Los Angeles that could benefit the most.

Efforts are well underway to introduce the program module outdoors in public parks, libraries and community centers when it is safe to program in person again.

In the meantime, we have started working with Santa Monica Public Libraries, Community Corporation, Westside Infant Network (WIN), New Economics for Women, LIFT-LA and the Magnolia Community Initiative to distribute...

97% OF PARTICIPANTS SAID THE CAYTON CREATORS PROGRAM

AND ACTIVITIES WERE ENGAGING NOT JUST FOR THEIR CHILDREN,

BUT AS A FAMILY

“

We are being very cautious, so Cayton Creators was really our first group outing for my grandson and I. Your event was very well organized, with a covered table for each group and our own bag of supplies. I thought it was so nice that you opened this outdoor event free to the public. Love you guys.”

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Each kit contains materials, supplies and instructions for an art project curated by the Cayton team. To enhance the experience, families can log on to our Youtube channel for a pre-recorded video of a Cayton ambassador completing the project.

“

-Participant, CAYTON CREATORS

...CAYTON CREATIVITY KITS free-of-charge to more than 600 families in underserved neighborhoods each month.

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YOUTHINK GOES VIRUAL Even before the onset of the pandemic, 2020 had already brought significant change for youTHink.

Taking a pause to understand where we might make important adjustments led us to pare down a number of program offerings and start experimenting with some new strategic approaches across different settings.

We were only just dipping our toes in this work when the pandemic sidelined progress, forcing us to press pause again.

Still, as we continue to adapt and evolve in response to the pandemic, it is clear there will be long-term implications on the ways in which we operate, work, connect and learn that will influence youTHink. Therefore, rather than see this as another setback, we are looking at it as a way to press reset and ask ourselves what youTHink can be instead of trying to so closely preserve what it was.

So when LAUSD announced its plans to go virtual just prior to the start of the 2020-21 school year, our team was already forming partnerships to help support our transition to remote instruction and was beginning to contemplate areas for reinvention.

STUDENT AMBASSADOR PROGRAM In fall 2020, we selected 14 students to join us for the next nine months as part of our 2020-21 Student Ambassador Program cohort. While the move to remote learning added some barriers to entry, it also removed those that have historically hindered engagement—including transportation and long distances to travel—thereby opening doors for citywide participation. This year’s cohort includes students from across Council Districts 1, 9, 13, 14, and some from unincorporated LA county, expanding the opportunity for more cross-cultural exchange and meaningful dialogue.

The 2020-21 curriculum is broken up into three sequential modules—Theater Arts, Storytelling through Photography, and Creative Writing & Spoken Word—so students can gain a broader awareness of social issues through the lens of each artistic medium. The artistic mediums are carefully selected to push youth out of their comfort zones, building their confidence and encouraging bold thinking to help them develop their voices as “Artivists”—a term coined for artists that use art to ignite activism. Apart from convening weekly on Zoom with their facilitator, Ambassadors also have access to college readiness workshops and mentorship support throughout the course of the school year to complete their A-G requirements for graduation and CSU/UC college application requirements.

Thus far, we are seeing an average of 10-12 Ambassadors in attendance each week, slightly above previous years. They will wrap up their first module, Theater Arts, in December 2020 and reconvene in February 2021 to embark on their second module, Storytelling through Photography. youTHink staff will be surveying the Ambassadors and facilitators following the first module to inform adjustments for 2021 sessions.

FILMMAKING FELLOWSHIP Since moving the Filmmaking Fellowship to our in-classroom model, we have made significant progress in terms of engagement and course completion—even as COVID forced us to pivot to virtual instruction in spring 2020.

For the first time in youTHink’s history, we are partnering with the Career Technical Education (CTE) department within LAUSD and The LA County Office of Education to offer the youTHink Filmmaking Fellowship as the capstone project for student graduating in the Arts Media Entertainment pathway. This partnership will allow us to recruit students to expand our reach, while engaging communities where the achievement gap is only growing.

In fall 2020, we again partnered with independent filmmaker and educator, Elizabeth Gray Bayne, to facilitate three cohorts totaling 77 students at Hollywood High School and USC Media Arts Magnet School—a 500% increase over students served in the 2019-20 academic year.

Over the course of the 12-week program, Bayne worked with students—both as a group and individually—to help them tap into their personal narratives and the stories they wanted to tell, while teaching them the skills and techniques of film production, screenwriting and editing.

From climate change and air pollution, to affordable housing and the Black Lives Matter movement, students chose to document a broad range of social issues and topics that impact their lives, communities and world today. These included: Voter suppression in Native American lands and the difficulty natives face in casting their votes The everyday discrimination of Latinx people The journey of Asian immigrants to the U.S. in hopes of finding the American Dream Stories of domestic violence told through women who have escaped their abusers The harsh realities immigrants face

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WORKING PLAYING OUR WAY TO A BETTER WORLD For the staff at ShareWell, this is more than a job. Our team of dedicated Museum ambassadors, teaching artists, program managers and administrative staff are invested and committed in creating a positive impact, both professionally and personally. We asked a few of the people behind the organization to share what the Cayton means to them and what they hope to impart on the next generation.

“I hope to encourage parents and children to embrace kindness, community and celebration.

We are, after all, floating on this space rock together. Hopefully that kind of reinforcement will lead to a more positive future where we can look at the problems in our country without obfuscation.”

Andrés Solorzano, Museum Programming Manager

“I care about equity in all areas of American life. When you learn something, teach something. I’m a pay-it-forward kind of person.”

Jami Johnson, Senior Director of Programming

ANDRES

SUMIHA

JAMI

LADY

NOAH

KATARINA

“As a member of the African American community, the lack of educational pathways and opportunities the children in my community have access to is disheartening. I make it my effort to educate and create equity for these children so that they can flourish in society, as well.”

Noah Chanaiwa, Museum Ambassador

“The Museum helps stimulate and exercise kids’ brains and minds, raising their curiosity which facilitates learning. Children build their confidence through innovative activities and in interactions with teachers they can trust.”

Sumiha Math, Teaching Artist

“Our community access initiatives are one of the most important services that we present to families. Being able to provide arts enrichment to kids that don’t get the opportunity in school is so important.”

Lady Santos, Lead Museum Ambassador

“I found a place where, when I show up to work, I get a glimpse into the future ... and can positively impact it!”

Katarina Stojakovic, Senior Director of Operations & Visitor Experience

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THANK YOU CAPITAL CAMPAIGN DONORS $1,000,000+ Andrea & Barry Cayton The Derfner Foundation

$500,000+ Dr. Gabriel Chiu & Christine Chiu Larry & Stacey Kohl S. Mark Taper Foundation VCA Animal Hospitals

$250,000+ Art & Kate Coppola DiPaola Family Foundation Simms/Mann Family Foundation The Ahmanson Foundation The Braun Family The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation The Younes & Soraya Nazarian Family Foundation W.M. Keck Foundation

$100,000+ Andy Kaplan & Allison Wright Courtney Mizel Erwin Rautenberg Foundation Jamie Mandelbaum & Steve Byrnes Jennifer & Curtis Cohen 36

$100,000+

(cont.)

$25,000+

(cont.)

Joy & Jerry Monkarsh, Heidi & Jon Monkarsh, Julie Monkarsh Gadinsky & Larry Froch Leonard & Annette Shapiro Family Foundation Rayni & Branden Williams The Fong Family The Carl & Jennifer Freed Family The Held Foundation The Kallick Family The Mizel Family Foundation The Perlstein Family The Sydney D. Holland Foundation

The Zedeck Family Waltuch Family

$50,000+

Leo Rosner Foundation Tammy Brandt & Anne Tyrrell Wrenn & Bill Chais Craig Erwich Choiwan & David Essey

Dianna Lau & Kevin Beggs Karey Burke, Michael Duggan & Family May & Richard Ziman Richard & Dana Smith Richard & Suzanne Norton & Family The Klein/Marcus Family Wendell & Celeste Birkhofer

$25,000+ Amy & Mark Kestenbaum Eileen & Bob Stringer Esther Netter & Family Fernando & Nadina Szew Frederick R. Weisman Discretionary Trust Heather & Ben Braun Holden, Halle & Oliver Hammond Hollywood Foreign Press Association Jennifer Yen & Gemma Yen Cervieri Judy & Aryeh Goldberg Karen Lehmann-Eisner & David F Eisner Kendra, Tierra & Pleas Ferguson Londyn & Milan Thornton Lynn & Les Bider Family Natalie Grof Weiner & Josh Weiner Saffian/Straus Family Shari & Michael Weiner Family Stacy & Jesse Sharf & Family Stella Frank & Jeremy Frank Susan & Aaron Amster The Brinah & Roy Bank Family Foundation The Brown Family- Marilyn, Laurie, Steve, Linda, Bruce & grandchildren The Lindsey Family The Share Family The Wachtel Family The Withers Family

$10,000+ Matthew S. Hanover M3 Creative The Bonnie Sue Schwartz Legacy Fund

$5,000+

$1,000+ Alon Shtruzman & Avi Mittleman Anina & Nathaniel Bach Kerry Phelan The Jeff Astor Foundation

2020 ANNUAL DONORS

$100,000+

(cont.)

Entertainment One Mark Hughes Foundation Teach a Man to Fish Foundation, Vincent Smith & Victoria Flaherty The Derfner Foundation VCA Animal Hospitals

$50,000+ Clancy Collins White & Dean White DiPaola Family Foundation James Brooks Kari Simmons Larry & Stacey Kohl

$50,000+ The Held Foundation

$25,000+ Carl & Jennifer Freed Courtney Mizel Dick Lippin & Sally Hightower Lippin Jean E. Hide-Cohen Jennifer & Curtis Cohen Joy & Jerry Monkarsh Foundation Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture Million Dollar Baby Rayni & Branden Williams The Braun Family The Erwin Rautenberg Foundation The Kallick Family The Sydney D. Holland Foundation

$1,000,000+

$10,000+

Andrea & Barry Cayton Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation

ABAR Foundation ABC Entertainment, Freeform, Disney Television Studios, FX, & Disney Channels Andy Kaplan & Allison Wright Annette & Leonard Shapiro Aryeh & Judy Goldberg Bill Prady & Jessica Queller Bradley & Lisa Mindlin Capital Group Dana & Richard Pachulski Danhakl Family Foundation Debmar/Mercury, LLC

$250,000+ Kevin & Chelsea Washington The JIB Fund

$100,000+ Art & Kate Coppola

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$10,000+

(cont.)

Deloitte Eisner, LLP Esther Netter & Family Gordon Godfrey & Mary Kerr Greg Berlanti & Robbie Rogers Heather & Ben Braun Holden, Halle & Oliver Hammond Hollywood Foreign Press Association IEQ Captial James Mandelbaum & Steve Byrnes Jon Goldwater & Penny Goldwater Karen Lehmann-Eisner & David F Eisner Karey Burke, Michael Duggan & Family Kevin Beggs & Dianna Lau Larry & Rebekah Shuman Leo Rosner Foundation Linda Gach Ray & Steve Ray Martin Gero NBCUniversal Richard & Suzanne Norton & Family Richard & Dana Smith Richard & May Ziman Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa Ron Perlstein Susan Goldsmith The Klein/Marcus Family The Komberg Family The Meyers Family The Mizel Family Foundation The Perlstein Family The Rasmussen Family The Rosalinde & Arthur Gilbert Foundation The Rovner Family Tom O’Hern Trevor Lai Wendell & Celeste Birkhofer

$5,000+ Alexa Dell Amy & Mark Kestenbaum Andrea & Glenn Sonnenberg Bruce Whizin CalPrivate Bank Channing Dungey Charlene & Steven Konsker Craig Erwich David & Suzanne Robinson Deutsche Bank Fernando & Nadina Szew Gloria Shulman & Curtis Cohen, CenTek Capital Group 38

$5,000+

(cont.)

Hudson Pacific Properties Jennifer Yen & Gemma Yen Cervieri Jeremy Johnson Julie Plec Lionsgate Lynn & Les Bider Family Mark Cohen Mark Pollack Michael Grassi Paramount Pictures Rafe Pery Richard and Dana Smith Rodney Freeman Saffian/Straus Family Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division Shari & Michael Weiner Family Showtime Networks, Inc. Stacy & Jesse Sharf & Family Stanley Black Stella Frank & Jeremy Frank Susan & Aaron Amster Ted Waitt The Brown Family- Marilyn, Laurie, Steve, Linda, Bruce & grandchildren The Lindsey Family The Sudacks The Wachtel Family The Zedeck Family Tom Lallas & Sandy Milo Waltuch Family

$2,500+ Aashika Patel Alon Shtruzman & Avi Mittelman Benyamin & Jannelle Ross CCS Fundraising Chip & Carrie Robertson Cody Liebel Covenant Foundation Damon Lindelof Danielle & Adam Del Deo Dianette Wells Eileen & Robert Stringer Fake Empire Productions Gavin Donnelly Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Grace Bene Greenbean Ventures Harlene & Henry Appleman Heidi & Jon Monkarsh & Family James & Claire Fraser

$2,500+

(cont.)

Janine Sherman Barrois & Lyndon Barrois Joan Borinstein & Gary Gartsman, Melanie Borinstein & Jake van Leer Jonathon & Mari Cardoos Layne Judy Citron Kendra, Tierra and Pleas Ferguson Kyle Kazmer Marc Russell MarVista Entertainment Matt & Carina Miller McMaster-Carr Supply Company MGM Michael & Lori Milken Family Foundation Natalie Grof Weiner & Joshua Weiner Navi Rawat OFFICEUNTITLED Sandra Stern Sera Gamble Stephanie Schaffer Tammy Brandt & Anne Tyrrell The Comrie Family The Newman-Wright Family The Withers Family Todd Sandler & Jana Winograde Sandler Tracey Gluck William Desser

$1,000+

(cont.)

Linda Gach Ray & Steve Ray Linda Gerstel & Ed, Kayla, Sarah & Adin Joyce Lisa Hofheimer & Josh Hofheimer Lisa Ling & Paul Song Londyn & Milan Thornton Nancy Etz Nathaniel & Anina Bach Nelson Chan Netflix Nicholas Grad & Carolyn Bernstein Nigel Lythgoe Patrick Herning Paulette & Ron Nessim Rob Thomas Robert Word & Laura Lizer Ryan Solovy Sarah Aubrey Seth Schulweis Sherri Nourse, Ambition Media Tekoa Hash The Brinah & Roy Bank Family Foundation The Siega Family The Stanley & Joyce Black Family Foundation Valentino USA Walter Delph

$1,000+ Adrienne Turner Ali Rushfield Alla Furman Ann Blanchard & Sandy Becker Ares Operations, LLC Balian-Chinn Family California Arts Council Cassie & Eitan Weinstock Corinna Cotsen Dana Uzzo Diane Shader Smith & Mark Smith Eric Doelle Frances Berwick Harry & Judy Friedman ICM Partners Iris & Micahel Smith J.P. Morgan Securities James Parriott & Diane Cary Jeffrey & Linda Glaser Jodie & Steven J. Fishman Julie Monkarsh Gadinsky, Larry Froch, Jonah & Isaac Gadinsky Leslie Morgenstein 39

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

WOMEN’S PHILANTHROPY CIRCLE

Andy Kaplan, Chair James Mandelbaum, Vice Chair Richard A. Smith, Vice Chair Courtney Mizel, Vice Chair Aryeh Goldberg, Treasurer

Danielle Del Deo, Co-chair Sydney Holland, Co-chair Alexandra Nechita, Co-chair Denise Perlstein, Co-chair Stephanie Schaffer, Co-chair

Susan Amster Nathaniel Bach Kevin Beggs Kendra Bracken-Ferguson Tamara S. Brandt Heather Braun Karey Burke Andrea Cayton Jennifer E. Cohen Mark DiPaola Craig Erwich Rodney Freeman Susan Goldsmith Matt Hanover Sydney Holl& Larry Kohl Heather Lindsey Pauline Malcolm-Thornton Andy Meyers Dana Pachulski Aashika Patel Rayni Romito Williams Fernando Szew Sheryl Wachtel Adam Waltuch Grant Withers

Jaymie Beckett Sarah Busbice Dickerson Andrea Cayton Anna Churchill Ripley Lewis Victoria Danhakl Alexa Dell Jessica Fogel Scott Jen Garcia Allen Halle Hammond Laura Katzenberg Mary Kitchen Christine Lim Lisa Ling Pauline Malcolm-Thornton Kshama Mehra Heidi Monkarsh Catherine Powers Navi Rawat Tracy Robbins Jackie Rubin Rayni Romito Williams Chelsea Washington Jennifer Wexler Shannon Wollack Haeran Zedeck

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